How do we rank Lennox Lewis in terms of greatness?

I have him, at his very best, beating all but two
Holmes and Ali
All that have come after him I also have him beating and that includes Wilder, Fury and the rest.
An extremely hard man to beat, I repeat, at his best.

 

I think he's a notch below the accomplishments of Foreman and Holmes, and certainly below the likes of Marciano, Louis and Ali, who imo should be the staple top 3 for everyone's list.

Lewis's consistency was his main problem. The Vitali win is by far his best win but some will point out it was a "fluke". I used to be one of those people but saying Vitali's ability to be cut is a fluke is like saying Ali's lack of punch power to ward of Frazier makes his win a fluke. However I'm of the opinion that Vitali is overrated heavily h2h. Imo Holyfield is a better win.

If we look at his other best wins, shot Tyson, shot Morrison, Mercer whom imo he lost to, and Holyfield 2. It's not the best. Holyfield is a good win. Imo if Lewis had not lost to 2 journeymen then he'd be in the top 3 Heavyweights. But that lack or consistency damages him. Ali also lacked consistency, barely training for fights like Norton 1 and Spinks 1, but at least he has wins over the likes of Liston, Frazier, Foreman, etc. All top 15 H2H Heavyweights, 2 past his best. The only one on that list who was past prime imo was Frazier. Ali also beat fantastic contenders like Jerry Quarry, Earnie Shavers, George Chuvalo and the WBC champ Norton.

 

He was pretty damn great.

 

In terms of looking like a big cat the GOAT definitely

 

Top 6/7 all time, one of the worst matchups for any heavyweight to face imo.

 

Did Ali beat anyone Lewis wouldn't have?

 

Foreman and Liston

 

The second fight with Holyfield was very close and the Mercer fight, many thought he lost or should have been a draw. Also, he never really beat Mccall. Mccall was obviously a drug addict and a mental but even when Mccall dropped his hands, Lennox never managed to hurt him. I know Mccall has ATG great chin but in those 7 rounds against Mccall, Lennox simply never looks dominant. He also struggled against that Russian guy who I forgot his name.

Lennox deserve to be in top 10 but certainly not top 3. I'd say 5th at highest. Holyfield faced better opponents throughout the 90's He beat a better version of Mike aswell. During that time, Lennox only looked dominant when he's fighting borderline greats such as Morrison and Tua. He even had a hardtime against Bruno.

 

Top 3 HW ATG.

Number 1 H2H

 

Yeah, Frazier , Foreman, Liston all I rank higher than Lewis

 

Didn't he do well against men with similar dimensions, such as Akniwande, Grant, and Klitschko?

 

What Lewis has going for him is that he beat everyone he ever faced and he was around for a long time. What strike goes against him is that he didn’t spend a great deal of time as the main heavyweight champion for such a “dominant” champion. Not that he wasn’t the man for longer than say Frazier, Liston or Foreman but much shorter than Holmes, Johnson, Dempsey, probably Marciano and even Patterson too.

He first became the man in November of 1999, lost the status in April of 2001, regained in November and was there until June of 2003.

I guess that’s a bit nitpicky but you’ve got to remember whilst his resume is good, Holyfield was a faded force and Tyson was just a name win only. I’d say he does great in h2h but I also don’t care for mythical or put any stock into them. Far too speculative.

All in all, depending on your criteria you could rank him anywhere from 3-9 IMO. I’d probably say around 6.

 

Debatable.

 

Well as in beat them?lol